It was January 1986, and Irene Roberts was starting out as an evening supervisor in the reservation call center for Super 8 Motels. She was a few years out of college, with administrative experience under her belt, and the hospitality industry was calling.
After about nine months, a position for the director of Super 8’s then-VIP Club frequent traveler program opened. Roberts got the job and “quickly fell in love with all things loyalty,” she told Hotel Dive.
Now, Roberts has nearly four decades of hotel loyalty experience under her belt. She spent roughly 30 years of her career at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, running international operations and managing contact centers, and ultimately landed at My Place Hotels in 2017. As vice president of brand loyalty at My Place, Roberts helped to build the extended stay brand’s Stay Rewarded loyalty program.
Earlier this month, Roberts bid farewell to My Place, and the hospitality industry, retiring after an impressive career. Ahead of her departure, she sat down with Hotel Dive to discuss all things loyalty, including the lessons she’s learned about loyalty strategies and guest preferences, advice for the younger generation of hospitality pros starting out today and the top trends she thinks will impact hotel loyalty this year and beyond.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
HOTEL DIVE: What are some lessons you learned about hotel loyalty during your career?
IRENE ROBERTS: Getting hotel managers engaged and getting their feedback is huge, and taking that feedback and incorporating it when you can is another very big thing. It's about making sure they're involved and they understand what the loyalty program brings to them.
"Loyalty programs present a huge opportunity to gather information on your customers and know who your customers are. However, today people aren't as willing to share their personal information. If guests are part of a loyalty program, you can incentivize them to share more information because there is a return on their investment for sharing, and that's huge."
Irene Roberts
My Place Hotels VP of Brand Loyalty
Additionally, the hotel industry has become more focused on making sure loyalty programs are easy for the guest. I think personalization has come a long way. It’s about letting the guest know that you know them, without being creepy.
Loyalty programs present a huge opportunity to gather information on your customers and know who your customers are. However, today people aren't as willing to share their personal information. If guests are part of a loyalty program, you can incentivize them to share more information because there is a return on their investment for sharing, and that's huge. Hotels that are doing that well have a great way to communicate with their guests and communicate specific offers.
Promotions really do drive repeat business back to hotels. And hotels are seeing the value of a loyalty program more than in the past.
How have hotel guest expectations changed around loyalty programs?
They have changed a lot. Guests are always wanting more. And loyalty members, specifically, expect to be treated better than a regular guest and have exclusive privileges. That exclusivity aspect is what drives hotel loyalty membership.
For someone starting their career in hotel loyalty, what advice would you give them?
When I first started, nobody said, “I'm gonna go to school and manage a hotel or operate a call center.” But, in the hospitality industry, there is significant opportunity for upward mobility. You can start in an administrative role and grow from there. It's all about finding a mentor, expressing your interest, digging in and asking questions.
Loyalty just fascinated me from the start, and it became about talking to people, asking questions — probably being a pain in the butt and asking too many questions — but I was lucky enough to work with some great people when I first started out that believed in me and gave me the chance to fail or succeed. Sometimes you're not going to start at the top. You have to work your way up.
There's so much growth opportunity in hospitality to do just that. And it's about having a servant's heart, right? You are in it to help everybody. The guest is your customer. The hotel manager is your customer. Our owners are our customers. We're just here to all be successful together.
What are top trends that will impact hotel loyalty in 2025 and beyond?
There’s a lot of different things that artificial intelligence can do. I think it can only help us get better in some aspects, including learning about guest preferences and finding out exactly how they like to book.
Incorporating experiences into rewards redemption options will remain a big opportunity. And hotels being able to harvest PII (personally identifiable information) from guests and show them that we are a safe holder of their information, that's going to be huge as well.
Additionally, it’s all about convenience. So whatever a hotel can do for travelers to save them time and make it easy, that is what's going to have the biggest impact. I don't even think saving money is a big thing anymore — it's all about saving time.
